''Elements of Style''
The Elements of Style '''is a book by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White that help people with little and useful information about English.http://www.bartleby.com/141/ 'I:'' Elementary Rules of Usage Involves basics grammar rules that most people should know. This chapter is split into 11 different rules of basic grammar.http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html 1. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. Exception to this rules are ancient proper names that end with -es and -is such as Moses and Isis. Possessive pronouns do not need apostrophes unless the pronoun is indefinite such as one and else. 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. Example: "red, white, and blue" Names of business however do not require the last comma. Example: "Little, Brown and Company" 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. This applies to most cases such as dates, direct address, abbrevations, etc. Parenthetic expressions with little interruption can omit the commas. Noun with a term of identifacation or is supported by the abbreviation Jr. and not require commas. 4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause. Example: "The early records of the city have disappeared, and the story of its first years can no longer be reconstructed." When the subject is the same for both of the clauses and the conjunction used is "but", a comma is needed to connect the clauses. On the other hand, if the conjunction used is "and", the comma can be omitted. 5. Do not join independent clauses with a comma. It is best to uses a semicolon to seperate the clauses, or make the clauses into two different sentences. Exception to this rules are when the clauses are very short and have similar forms, or when the tone is simple and conversational. 6. Do not break sentences in two. The rule means that you should not uses a period where a comma should be. It makes one of the sentence run-on, since the sentence does not have a subject. 7. Use a colon after an indepedent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. However, when using it to list items, do not a verb just before using a colon. Use a noun. Example: "Your dedicated whittler requires three props: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch." 8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary. Example: "His first thought on getting out of bed -if he had any thought at all- was to get back in again." 9. The number of the subject determines the number of the verb. It means that any extra info between the subject and the verb does not change the number of the subject or verb. Example: "The bittersweet flavor of youth -its trails, its joys, its adventures, its challenges- is not soon forgotten." 10. Use the proper case of pronoun. Personal pronouns as well as the pronoun "who" are change forms when used as a subject or an object. When using pronouns to compare another, rewrite the verb to make the pronoun seem like it is at the right tense. 11. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject. Example: "Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman accompanied by two children." The participial phrase, "walking slowly down the road", was refering to the man, not the woman. To make the phrase refer to the woman, the sentence must be rearranged. 'II: ''Elementary Principles of Composition Explains ways to improve writing and help suggest ways to make papers sound more professional. This chapter consists of 11 rules to help writer receive ideas to make papers more scholarly.http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html '''12. Choose a suitable design and hold to it. This means that it is each type of writing should have a certain design to correspond to that type of writing. Some types of writing do not require a design. In fact, it is sometimes best not to have one. However, some types of writing are better with a certain design. 13. Make the paragraph the unit of composition. A paragraph is a valuable unit in composition which is in all literary work. It can be any length as long as it can be held together. If a paragraph is short, combine it with other short paragraphs and revise it so it will make proper sense. The beginning of a paragraph should be the main idea of what the rest of the paragraph is about. Single sentences should not be left as if it was a paragraph unless the sentence is of the followings: sentences of transition: indicating the relation btween the parts of an expostion or arguement; or dialogue. 14. Use the active voice. An active voice explains who is doing the action in the sentence. It is much more direct and vigorous to talk in an active voice. Example: "I shall always remember my first visit to Boston." 15. Put statements in positive form. In other words, avoid being negative. Try to not use of these words: not, never, and none. Try using a word that means the same as the other words. Example: "not honest into dishonest" 16. Use definite, specific, concrete language. Try to not be so broad when writing a paper. Be more precise of what is going on. 17. Omit needless words. Cut out words in a sentence that would not change the meaning the sentence. Take a bunch a words out the sentence and replace it with words that mean the same thing but with fewer words. This means that its better to have a good quality paper than a large quantity paper. 18. Avoid a succession of loose sentences. It refers to the structure of the sentences of a paragraph. 19. Expression coordinate ideas in similar form. Write a idea the same way you did with the other idea. Example: change "It was both a long ceremony and very tedious" into "The ceremony was both long and tedious." 20. Keep related words together. If you put related words apart from each other, then the meaning of the sentence changes completely. 21. In summaries, keep to one tense. Do not mix a past tense verb with a present tense verb or future tense verb. It makes the reader confused of whether the event is happen currently, in the past, or has yet to happen. 22. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end. It makes the sentence more effective. Another place to put emphatic words are in the beginning. 'III: A Few Matters of Form''http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk2.html '''Colloquialism- '''refers to the slang. Use it freely as you like '''Exclamations- they are used incorrect on simple statements. They should only be use for use for true exclamation and commands. Headings- Leave a lot of space at the top of the first page. Then place the heading about a fourth of the way down that page. Leave a blank line after heading. There should be no period but use questions marks or exclaimation points if need. Hyphens- Use hyphens to combine multiple words into a compound adjective. Do not use them when the word needs to be one word. Margins- Margins on the left and right side of the paper should be equally spaced. Numeral- Dates and serial numbers should not be spelled out. The only exception to the rule would be when numbers appear in dialogue. Parentheses- Punctuations in a sentence is always outside of the parentheses as if the expression within never exist. It is not punctuated inside unless it is a question or a exclamation. Quotation- Quotes from a document is introduced by a colon and enclosed by quotation marks. When it is in the direct object, it is preceded by a comma. Quotes from a entire line of a verse or is a common expression do not need quotations. References- '''When exactly referring a scholar work, abbreviation is used. "Omit the words ''act, scene, line, book, volume, page, ''except when referring to only one of them." '''Syllabication- Without putting a word into the next line, split a word in two using a hyphen to put one part of the word on one line, and the other on the next. To do that you must split the word at where to syllables are at. '''Titles'- Use italics when writing a title of a literary work. Omit "A" ''or "''The" from the title when you are using possesion. '''IV: ''Words and Expressions Commonly Misused There are many words and expression that are not used incorrectly, but are often mistaken when people try to use them. The words or expressions they used are not what they think they used. Here are some examples from the bookhttp://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk3.html 'References' ' '''